


The bad night

by Enolaholmes468



Series: Young Sherlock and Mycroft [2]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Anxiety, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-17 01:08:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28716279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enolaholmes468/pseuds/Enolaholmes468
Summary: Young Sherlock and Mycroft. Sherlock is having a bad night but lucky for him Mycroft is always there for him and he will always be there for Mycroft.
Relationships: Mycroft Holmes & Sherlock Holmes
Series: Young Sherlock and Mycroft [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2105130
Kudos: 9





	The bad night

Sherlock was sitting in bed unable to sleep, his mind was racing through all the cases he had read about in the papers. How could the police be so incompetent when there were obviously some missing factors like the shoes in the drowned swimmer case. Where were they? This sort of thought went round and round Sherlock’s head and he started slowly rocking back and forth, his knees drawn to his chin. He was starting to get anxious, he was struggling to breathe and he was shaking. He needed help, he picked up his phone and texted Mycroft. Despite it being 2am Mycroft came straight away.

“Brother dear what’s wrong?”  
“I can’t breathe.” Sherlock gasped, anxiety attacks weren’t that foreign to him and Mycroft knew this. Mycroft slowly rubbed circles on Sherlock’s back and whispered words of encouragement to him. After a while a rather shaken Sherlock calmed down. He sighed heavily and started crying.  
“Hey, hey, hey, you’re ok now there’s no need to cry.” Mycroft said softly using his thumb to brush the tears off of Sherlock’s cheek.  
“I know but mum and dad can’t know about this and I don’t want to go to school tomorrow I’m exhausted and I can’t sleep and I find school so overwhelming the day after.”

Mycroft formulated a plan, he took Sherlock through to the bathroom and using his mother’s makeup made Sherlock look really pale. Then he made Sherlock’s nose look a little red. The crying had made Sherlock’s eyes red and puffy. Mycroft told Sherlock that to get the day off he had to go into his parent’s room and tell them he wasn’t feeling well and then start coughing. Sherlock nodded, he went to leave and at the last moment turned back to Mycroft.  
“Please don’t leave me alone for the rest of the night.” Sherlock said.  
“Once mummy puts you back to bed I will come back to your room.” Mycroft said.

Sherlock went into his parents room, he walked round to his mother’s side and gently shook her awake.  
“Sherlock dear why aren’t you asleep?” Sherlock’s mother said sitting up and turning the light on.  
“I don’t feel well” Sherlock croaked and started fake coughing. Sherlock’s mother looked really concerned. She got out of bed and steered Sherlock by the shoulders.  
“Come on back to bed.” She said and took him back to his room. “Do you want some medicine?” She asked. Sherlock shook his head. “Ok, but I’m keeping you off school tomorrow.” Sherlock pretended to look upset about this. Sherlock’s mother tucked him under the blanket and then when he looked like he’d fallen asleep she went back to bed. 

Just as she was about to get to sleep Mycroft came in. “Mummy,” he whispered into the darkness, she sat up and turned the light back on.”I don’t feel very well my head really hurts and I feel really hot and I can’t sleep.” Mycroft lied, he wanted to spend the next day looking after Sherlock. “Do you want some medicine Mycroft?” His mother asked, Mycroft agreed knowing that she let him take it unsupervised so he could pretend to take it. Mycroft’s mother got up and gave him some pills and a glass of water. She then asked Mycroft if she could go back to bed and Mycroft let her. Once she was gone he popped two tablets out of the packet and put them in his desk bin. Then he drank the water and went into Sherlock’s room. 

“I told mummy I wasn’t feeling well.” Sherlock whispered.  
“Me too,” whispered Mycroft. The two cuddled up together in bed and fell asleep. Their parents woke up and their mother told their father that their children weren’t feeling well.  
“Typical of them to fall ill at the same time.” Their dad chuckled lightly. “Let’s go talk to Mycroft.”  
The parents went into Mycroft’s room but all they saw was an empty bed that looked like it hadn’t been slept in for hours. They looked at each other panicked, had Mycroft passed out somewhere in the house and never made it back to bed?  
“Let’s go check on Sherlock and see if he is ok.” Their dad said calmly.  
They went into Sherlock’s room and saw Sherlock and Mycroft snuggled up together under the covers asleep. They both looked quite pale as they hadn’t taken the makeup off and due to the heat in the room and from under the duvet, they had rosy cheeks. This made it look like they had a fever.

Their parents went over to the sleeping pair and gently shook Mycroft awake.  
“Morning Mycroft, we hate to have to ask but are you feeling well enough for us to leave you home alone with Sherlock? I have a big presentation at work today and your mother is having staffing issues but say the word and we will stay.”  
“I’m sure I can manage and I have your number if I start to feel I can’t.” Mycroft croaked.  
His parents thanked him and left him to sleep and then went to work. A couple of hours later Sherlock woke up and slipped out of his brother’s grasp and went to the loo. When Mycroft woke up he realised Sherlock wasn’t in his arms, he panicked slightly and got up and walked into the hall.  
“Sherlock” he called quietly.  
“Yes Mycroft.” Sherlock replied. Appearing behind Mycroft in the hall.  
“Where did you go?”  
“The bathroom?”  
“Ah, ok”

The two then went down to the kitchen to get some food and watch some tv. After they finished their brunch Mycroft turned to Sherlock.  
“Do you want to tell me what happened last night?” Mycroft asked softly. Sherlock looked down at his hands and twiddled his thumbs.  
“I was reading the news yesterday afternoon and seeing which cases I could deduce and to what extent I could solve them.”  
“I do that as well brother dear.”  
“But I started thinking about how stupid and naive everyone that was actually working the case was and I started to worry what if there are many murderers and people like that out there who are roaming around freely because of other peoples stupidity.”  
“Sherlock you needn’t worry, the chances of getting hurt by anyone is so minuscule it’s not worth worrying about. Anyway, you know as well as I do, it’s normally someone you know that tries to kill you.”  
“That’s true and we don’t really know anyone except each other. I would never kill you Mycroft.”  
“I wouldn’t kill you either, brother dear, threaten it on the other hand, perhaps.”  
Sherlock laughed a little at that. He felt so much better about everything after discussing it with his brother. 

“So, what do you want to do with the day?” Mycroft asked.  
“Play cluedo?”  
“Never again, if you want to play cluedo then you will have to get to know someone else.”  
Mycroft joked. “How about snakes and ladders that one never causes arguments.”  
“Ok.” Sherlock said.  
The Holmes brothers spent the afternoon playing board games until their parents were due home. Just before their parents got home the two brothers got under a blanket on the sofa, put on a pirate film and went to sleep. Their parents came over to them and looked at the adorable scene in front of them. The redness from their cheeks had gone so there was no fever but they were still pale. The parents left their children to get some much needed rest. They set about making dinner, just as it was ready Mycroft woke up. 

“Mummy and dad when did you get home?”  
“About two hours ago, you were asleep. How are you feeling?”  
“Better thanks.”  
Then Sherlock stirred and awoke.  
“Mummy,” he croaked “dad.”  
“Sherlock dear, how are you feeling?”  
“A bit better.” Sherlock yawned.  
“Hungry?” Their dad asked dishing up their dinner. The two boys nodded.  
Everyone sat round the dinner table, their parents spoke about work and Mycroft kept up a bit of conversation but Sherlock remained quiet. After dinner Mycroft went to talk to Sherlock alone.  
“Are you ok?” Mycroft asked Sherlock.  
“I’m worried it’s going to happen again tonight, I’m worried that I’m going to start panicking again and I hate it when that happens.”  
“I know Sherlock, I know but I’m always here for you and if it happens again we will get through it together.”  
Sherlock hugged Mycroft and they sat there feeling safe in each other’s embrace for a while. Their parents looked in and saw the two cuddling and smiled at each other. They had raised their kids right. 

Later that night everyone went to bed relatively early as everyone was exhausted. Mycroft however was unable to sleep and was upset he wanted to protect his brother from all the evils of the world but he couldn’t. He could only help him work through it. Mycroft hadn’t told a single person but he understood how Sherlock felt as it happened to him sometimes too. Unlike Sherlock however he could hide it and pretend that everything was normal. It was at that moment, as he worried over his brother, that it happened. Everything his brother always described, all the symptoms and the fear. He wasn’t sure how to stop them he usually just waited them out. 

Sherlock woke up and had a feeling something was wrong. He stood up and went into Mycroft’s room. He saw Mycroft with tears streaming down his face and shaking. He ran over to him and hugged him. Mycroft took deep breaths and focused on the warmth Sherlock was providing. He calmed down quicker than usual due to his brother being there.  
“Sorry.” Mycroft whispered.  
“Why are you sorry?” Sherlock asked gently.  
“Because I didn’t tell you that I suffer like this when you opened up to me. I just felt so ashamed and scared.”  
“It’s nothing to be ashamed about and now that I do know we can work on supporting each other.”

Mycroft’s parents came into the room at that moment and saw the two awake and embraced in each other’s arms. They hadn’t heard any of the conversation and they were worried about the two boys.  
“Are you two ok?” Their mother asked them.  
“Not really,” Mycroft croaked “I still don’t feel great and neither does Sherlock.” Mycroft didn’t fancy going into school the next day looking tired and dishevelled, his friends would ask questions and then try to convince him to go home as he’d tell them the same lie he told his parents. He might as well skip the middle man. Mycroft’s parents tutted pityingly and went to get the boys some medicine, Sherlock looked a little panicked. Mycroft however was onto it.  
“Actually mummy we just had some medicine.” Mycroft announced.  
“Ok, try and get some sleep then, you will feel better when it kicks in.”  
With that Sherlock and Mycroft got into Mycroft’s bed and went to sleep wrapped in each other’s arms.

Mycroft woke up first and looked a little confused, he couldn’t figure out the time. Then he checked his phone 11:30. He remembered the events of the night before and relaxed. He wasn’t late for school and he gas Sherlock looking after him today. He looked lovingly at Sherlock and then lay down with his headphones on, one of his relaxation techniques that never worked when he needed it to, and stared at the ceiling. About 20 minutes later Sherlock stirred. Despite being very young he could still make beans on toast and since it was almost lunchtime and they were both very hungry he went to make some. He brought it to Mycroft who was staring sadly out the window. 

Sherlock cleared his throat and Mycroft turned around to face him, he saw the food and smiled. Beans on toast was Mycroft’s comfort food, it made him feel warm and safe. Sherlock and Mycroft ate in silence, sitting on Mycroft’s bed. Once they had both finished Sherlock cleared their things away into the kitchen and went back into Mycroft’s room. He sat down beside Mycroft and slowly rubbed circles on his back. Mycroft continued to stare sadly out the window. Sherlock decided to say something.  
“Mycroft?”  
“Mmm” he replied still staring out the window.  
“Are you ok?” Tears started to steam down Mycroft’s face silently and he turned to face Sherlock and shook his head.  
“What’s wrong? You can tell me!” Sherlock said softly. Mycroft answered quietly with a slightly husky voice.  
“I wanted to protect you from all this, I wanted you to be happy and run around pretending to be a pirate forever.”  
Sherlock put his hands on Mycroft’s shoulders and looked into his eyes.  
“I’m ok, this isn’t your fault you gave yourself an impossible task you can’t save me from myself.”  
“I’m going to help you through this for as long as I live.”  
“And I will help you as much as I can.”  
“I can look after myself but thank you I appreciate having someone to turn to.” 

The two sat hugging each other for about an hour. Then they moved into the living room and sat on the sofa and started playing monopoly. Eventually the game finished and they both went back to sleep on the sofa just in time for their parents getting home. Their parents came in and saw them asleep and decided to keep them off school the next day even if they said they were feeling ok. They weren’t back to normal yet and until they were their parents would keep a close eye on them. They cared deeply about their children. They knew they were close and were glad they both had a friend for life.


End file.
